“This action by Congress reaffirms the intent of the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, which reflected a hard-fought Congressional and Administration consensus for the future of NASA in the post-shuttle era,” she said in a statement released Thursday morning by the Senate Commerce Committee, where she had served as its ranking member. “I am delighted that this will be one of my final acts as a U.S. Senator and is in cooperation with my good friend and colleague, Senator Bill Nelson.”

The statement provides a clue why the Senate-amended version only extends launch indemnification for one year, instead of two in the original version the House passed in November. The shorter extension will keep the current system in place “while the Federal Aviation Administration conducts a review of the underlying formula for calculating probable levels of loss.” That’s a reference to a critique last year by the Government Accountability Office, which argued that the FAA should use more sophisticated models for determining the third-party maximum probable loss (MPL) that launch providers must be financially responsible for, with the government indemnifying any losses above the MPL level up to approximately $2.7 billion.

The statement also indicated that Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), who will again chair the committee’s space subcommittee in the new Congress, will be working with Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) as the subcommittee’s ranking member. “I am grateful to, and will miss, Sen. Hutchison, and I look forward to working with Sen. Boozman as we lead the space subcommittee in 2013,” Nelson said in the statement. Boozman was the ranking member of the space subcommittee in the previous Congress, but was often overshadowed by Hutchison, ranking member of the full commerce committee.

“‘This action by Congress reaffirms the intent of the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, which reflected a hard-fought Congressional and Administration consensus for the future of NASA in the post-shuttle era,'”

I have pointed out the problems with moving anything but a tiny asteroid into the earth/moon gravity well. It is really a stupid idea, and not surprising that Friedman was involved. I see no mention of the estimated mass of 1999 AO10. It kinda matters. I would be interested in the weapon potential such a capability.

And with that, I hope someone gave her a couple of ball bearings on her way out the door so she can play with them like Captain Queeg while obsessing over whether Charlie Bolden stole the SLS strawberries for CCiCap.